Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz: Climate Change Is 'Not Debatable'

Physicist Ernest Moniz was sworn in this week as U.S. Energy Secretary, and wasted little time laying out his priorities.

Along with a major speech on energy efficiency, as well as pronouncements about nuclear power and natural gas, he issued a blunt warning to any opponents or obfuscators of climate science: The jig is up.

"Let me make it very clear that there is no ambiguity in terms of the scientific basis calling for a prudent response on climate change," he told a crowd of Energy Department employees Tuesday following his swearing-in ceremony at DOE headquarters.

"I am not interested in debating what is not debatable," he added, echoing a recent survey that found 97 percent of climate scientists agree about manmade global warming. "There is plenty to debate as we try to move forward on our climate agenda."

Moniz called clean energy and climate change his top policy priorities, citing them as "the real driver of my coming back" to the DOE, where he served as undersecretary in the 1990s. "We want to build on what was done by Secretary [Steven] Chu, who really changed the face of energy technology innovation at the Department of Energy," he said.